Bay Pointe and CEDA butt heads over land, future of Bay Pointe Club

Sep 2, 2015

Slowly but surely, in a process that has already taken years and will cost millions of dollars, Bay Pointe Club LLC is moving forward on the creation of a 90-unit housing development on more than 140 acres on the golf course it owns.

At the same time, it can’t clean up its driveway.

While Bay Pointe owns the left side of the entrance, along Bay Pointe Drive at Onset Avenue, the town Community Economic and Development Authority owns the right side. The two have engaged in a scathing war of words about the property.

“I am, however, not going to continue the same dysfunctional business relationship with CEDA that has single handedly put three prior owners of The Bay Pointe Club out of business,” said Tim Fay, President of Stonestreet Corp., the Rhode Island-based real estate and development company that bought Bay Pointe in 2012 for $1.4 million.

Fay wrote that message to Sal Pina, the director of CEDA, in an Aug. 25 e-mail that was obtained by Wareham Week through a public records request.

CEDA owns 7.5 acres of land at Bay Pointe, which includes the Clubhouse and adjacent paved parking lot.

Years of inability to get together on simple projects have led to a strained relationship between the two entities.

According to the e-mails, Fay spoke with Pina and Chairman of the CEDA Board Jean Connaughton as early as July 2014 about working together to clean and beautify the entrance to the Club.

On a June 23, 2015 e-mail to Connaughton, Fay said, “During the course of our planning process for the development of Bay Pointe our traffic engineer has indicated that there are site line issues developing due to vegetation growth on the property owned by you. We ask that you prune and maintain your side of the entrance.”

Pina followed up, saying that according their lease agreement, Bay Pointe is responsible for the maintenance of the entire entrance.

Fay objected to that idea, saying that he leases the clubhouse, but not half of the entrance.

“Quite honestly Mr. Pina I am shocked at how disingenuous and uninformed this response is to a very simple request made by the Bay Pointe Club for CEDA to maintain its property on the corner of Onset Ave and Bay Pointe Drive,” Fay wrote in the Aug. 25 letter.

Pina, reached by phone on Tuesday, said that the CEDA Board is currently divided on whether the entrance is included in the lease agreement or not, and that the board plans to go back and look at the original agreement.

Pina did say that, if the overgrowth at the entrance became a hazard, “we’ll take care of that.”

He noted in his e-mail to Fay on Aug. 20 that members of the CEDA Board visited the property and saw that, “There is a great deal of brush that should it be cut back on both sides around trees and bushes, would greatly enhance visibility and make it safer to exit onto Onset Avenue.”

“I have over the past 3 years offered to buy the property, offered to reconstruct the entrance and generally have been ignored by you and the CEDA board. Please get your facts correct before writing such a pompous, condescending, offensive, and uninformed letter on behalf of a public agency of the Town of Wareham,” Fay wrote.

But Pina said that CEDA has no intention to sell the property. He said that even if CEDA wanted to, they would have to make a recommendation to Selectmen and the matter would eventually go before Town Meeting and the public proposal process. In other words, CEDA couldn’t independently orchestrate a sale with Bay Pointe LLC.

“He understands that, without a doubt,” Pina said of Fay.

“Right now, we have a lease [with Bay Pointe] through 2018, so we’re honoring the lease,” Pina said.

That lease earns the town $28,000 annually.

Pina said when the lease is up, the two parties could renew or CEDA could explore different options. Pina said the CEDA Board is figuring out what exactly those other options are.

But for the moment, CEDA isn’t going anywhere at Bay Pointe.

“We’re generating revenue with it,” Pina said of the property. “Why would we be interested in selling it? We’re making money.”

At the same time, Bay Pointe has been locked in a months-long  struggle with the Planning Board over the 90-unit housing development it plans to build on its course.

After dealing with everything from lot sizes to sewers, the Board seems ready to vote on the project soon.